New build! E90 M3
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I had my first track day in the car today at Blackhawk Farms Raceway and ran in the intermediate group. This is my 4th track day in 3 years and it's amazing how quickly you get to know people by attending these things semi regularly. It's great being able to run with some of the same people year after year and developing a trust on the track.
Ok now that that's out of the way, the car. She ran beautifully! Stock brakes, stock suspension and pss tires. The car was perfect. It did what it was supposed to with no surprises. I took it slow for the day to feel the car out. The NA power took some getting used to. Even though the s65 is a supposed torqueless turd I had a low end power that i didnt expect and it was consistent through the power band. Power came on easy and steady. No surging or lag to deal with. It was great. Right off the bat I was running similar times I ran in my 335i but I was way more consistent. My fastest in the 335i was 1:29 and in the M3 I managed a 1:32. I'm pretty happy with that considering it was my first time out with it and i wasn't pushing very hard. The DCT was awesome! It did get a little laggy on up shifts when it got hot but downshifts were excellent. Being able to focus on braking zones was a really nice change. I could put my energy into hitting better lines instead of worrying about my feet.
Of course every driver walks away from an event saying "if I just had this item it'd be that much better!". For me I'd like to get the Schroth quick fit harness and a slightly better pad with more bite. These worked and I NEVER had any fade but I'd like the pedal a little more effective sooner. The car does have a little wiggle under heavy braking which led to some butt puckering moments but I'm not sure how to fix that yet. The easy answer is coilovers but I'm happy with the ride quality so we'll see if I "fix" that.
Now for the video! My go pro only recorded the last 10:25 of each session unbeknownst to me but this was the last and my fastest session.
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I got my photos from BHF back today!
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This is really a non update update. For Christmas I got 2 more 10k lumen 4' workshop lights to bring my total to 4 in my 2nd garage. I'm slowly but surely getting my garage put together. I also have a hose reel I need to get hung. I thought I'd share a before and after photo of the lighting for any of you thinking about LED. I got these from Farm and Fleet on sale for about $55 ea which was cheaper than anything comparable I could find online. The difference is (excuse the pun) night and day in visibility! Going from two halogen bulbs to 4 10k lumen led strips is amazing! I plan on painting next summer to brighten it up even further and getting a shed for some of the lawn mower and toys to help with organization. For now this is a suitable cave for the M3.
non led garage by patrick hamilton, on Flickr
led garage by patrick hamilton, on Flickr -
With the baby coming this month and due this week I've been busy at work trying to get things wrapped up before I go on leave along with trying to get projects done around the house and get a few of my own customers cars done at home so I haven't had much time to really do anything with this other than stare at it and more recently, drive it. I got it out of storage on March 17th and since then I've put on 300ish miles hitting back roads to run errands.
I have a few boxes of parts either at my house or on order that need to get installed that includes:
- Rod Bearings/Motor Mounts
- H&R Sport Springs
- Spacers (15mm front/12.5mm rear)
- Pad Wear Sensor
I still want to order a front lip for the car and get the GTS DCT tune done this summer. With the baby coming and the maintenance i'm doing this summer I don't know that I'll be able to get any track time but I plan on driving the hell out of this thing! And if anyone was wondering, it will hold two car seats. My seat didn't need to move forward and the passenger seat was left where my wife keeps it.
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My daughter was born on April 1st so my time has been finite lately. I was able to sneak away tonight after everyone went to sleep and install my H&R sport springs and ECS spacers. The specs are 255/35r19 with 15mm spacer up front and 275/35r19 with 13mm spacers on the rear. I was a little concerned it would be too aggressive but I love it! The springs ride slightly stiffer than stock but I honestly don't think someone would notice who doesn't drive it every day.
To be honest I didn't expect to like this setup as much as I do. I thought I was compromising until I buy coilovers at some point but I am so in love with this set up!
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After driving it for a bit now I am still in love! The stance is mean, handling is perfect and the ride quality is excellent. After settling for a couple days the drop turned out to be about 1.125" up front and 1" in the rear. I got her all cleaned up and put a few miles on today but didn't get any decent pictures in the sunlight.
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I would venture to say that the stance is perfect. Even fender to wheel gap back and front. Enough room for some movement.
Probably still able to clear most road imperfections.
Perfect is a good word. It's exactly the height I would set it to if it was on coilovers. It scraped on the passenger rear about 3 times the first day and hasn't scraped since on the same roads and over larger bumps. The ride is perfect and the stance just melts my heart to look at.
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I stopped and grabbed a couple photos in Nagawauke park on my way home from cars, coffee and cereal. It's so great to get to drive around with the windows open!
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The Michelin PSS that came on the car had seen better days and even though I had aout 4/32 of useable tread left I went ahead and ordered a new set of Pirelli P Zero's. I haven't tried any of Pirelli's performance tires but at the behest of a good buddy who happens to be a Regional Sales Manager for Pirelli I gave them a shot. We have the Scorpion Verde Plus on my wifes XC90 and she has loved them so I wasn't too hesitant to make the change but still nervous moving away from Michelin. I kept the same upsize that I had before with a 275/35r19 rear and 255/35/r19 front.
After having them on for a couple hundred miles I love them! They are way quieter than my PSS were and seem to grip very well. Now, I haven't tracked them so I can't give a serious review on their handling characteristics yet but their street manner is very well balanced and confidence inspiring. I screwed around with a little editing as well. These pictures were taken about 12 hours and 50 miles apart.
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According to my calculations 50 miles in 12 hours works out to 4.16667 MPH. I think you need a faster car.
Where is that first picture?
Based on my ride in Jordan's car more speed is exactly what I don't need! The first picture was just outside of Whitewater on territorial road.
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I've had a chance to put a few miles on the new Pirelli P Zero's and thanks to the weather I've had a chance to test them in the rain. So far they're great! They're quiet enough, handling is predictable when pushed in corners or roundabouts and wet grip doesn't leave me white knuckled. Overall I'm happy with them and think they're a sufficient replacement for the Michelin PSS especially when I paid less than $1000 for the whole package installed.
I also changed the oil this weekend at 76k miles with Liquimoly 10w60 and a Mann filter. The cutaway in the belly pan for draining the oil is a huge time saver. It takes me longer to fill it with 9qts of oil, start it, wait for it to warm up and measure the oil level than it does to jack it up/drain it/replace filter. I'd kill for an oil dipstick but $1500 just isn't reasonable for me at this time.
Next up I want to track down all of the parts needed for the trunk storage net since these cars didn't come with the hooks, net, etc. There's also a passenger side trans tunnel storage net I may get as well just to add a little more usable interior storage. My current set up for grocery's is to store them behind the seats to prevent them from moving around and if I have a large load it goes in the trunk with a hope and a prayer.
Also, 6 bags of mulch is the cars space limit.
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Always feels good to see a performance car doing mundane daily activities even when it doesn't have to.
Gotta flex on the p00rs
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She's looking great!
I'm glad to see people trying something other than the PSS!
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